'The enemy is always ... us!'

Florida’s House speaker designate got it right: Lawmakers are the problem, not special interests.

By Observer Staff
| 3:57 p.m. September 24, 2015

Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran. File photo

Sarasota
Opinion

Few Floridians pay much attention to what goes on in Tallahassee, except: 1) when the Legislature is in session; 2) if there’s a gubernatorial election on the horizon; or 3) if Florida’s governor is doing something stupid.

It would not be a stretch to say most Floridians cannot name the current Senate president or the House speaker, much less the governor. And surely, you would be hard pressed to find anyone, except his family members, who could name the state’s lieutenant governor (answers at the end).

But Florida Speaker-to-be Richard Corcoran, a Republican from Pasco County, shook the Tallahassee and media trees last week when he delivered his acceptance speech as the speaker designate.

The mainstream media’s Tallahassee watchers went gonzo over it, shooting arrows and spitballs mostly at 254 words in Corcoran’s 2,936-word speech.

They focused — not surprisingly, mind you — on Corcoran’s call for the Legislature to adopt new rules and laws that would stop lawmakers from becoming lobbyists the minute their terms end, or from taking jobs at companies that benefit from state tax dollars while they are legislators.

These are good ideas average Floridians would endorse. They’re all part of the present climate nationwide that the country’s electorate are sick and tired of career politicians.

In fact, it’s worth reading some of what Corcoran said:

Protect property owners, too

When all of Sarasota’s tree protectors get together in coming months to craft new regulations to protect the city’s trees, we hope the City Commission has enough sense to have a voice or two at the table who will protect property owners.

Sarasota Observer News Editor David Conway reported last week how a coalition of neighborhood groups is working with City Hall staffers to devise new, stiffer tree-protection regulations for the city.

Instinctively, it’s easy to be supportive of such efforts. We all love trees, right?

But two days after Conway’s report, a city resident sent us the following email: “One of our neighbors trimmed three branches off a tree (of sorts) and planted some much nicer ones. He was fined $450 for doing things ON HIS OWN PROPERTY.”

It’s one thing to regulate trees on city property. It’s quite another to prescribe what property owners are allowed to do on property they own.

Indeed, what is property ownership if it is confiscated and controlled by the state? In social studies class, they call that socialism and communism.

Beware, city commissioners, of being lobbied by these neighborhood groups into overstepping the role of government. Remember the basic rule of property rights: A property owner has the right to do as he wishes with his property so long as he doesn’t damage his neighbors. Sarasota doesn’t need tree police monitoring what citizens plant or how they trim their trees on the property they own.

“We must close the revolving door between the Legislature and the lobby corps … We do that by passing a constitutional amendment that bans any state elected official from lobbying the legislative or executive branch for a period of six years, not two …

“We must send a clear signal that public service is not a path to personal financial gain … We accomplish this by banning elected officials from taking jobs in government, unless elected by the people, for a period of six years after they leave office.

“We must build an absolute firewall between our private lives and the influence of special interests whether real or perceived. We must remove temptation and ban special interests from hiring legislators. Period. No legislator will be able to take a job while in office with any company or group that receives any funding from the state, directly or indirectly.”

Right on. Although this all sounds to be more of an “inside baseball” agenda than reforms that actually would make Florida a better place to live.

Nonetheless, Corcoran did hit a nerve with voters. They really hate it when politicians go to Tallahassee or Washington poor and come home rich. There’s something oily and smelly about that.

At the same time, if you are familiar with the way government works, it’s worth asking: Are politicians turned lobbyists really the problem in the halls of capitals? Think about this: Every business puts a premium on hiring experience over inexperience. So there could be a significant downside to enacting Corcoran’s call for excluding for six years people who might otherwise make valuable contributions to what goes on in the capitals.

Corcoran actually defined the real problem: the legislators themselves. As he put it:

“Every election [voters] go out and vote hoping for better; and every year they see those they entrust with their support say one thing during a campaign and do another thing once elected. They see us desiring higher office from the moment we walk through those hallowed doors. They see us seeking lucrative jobs, jobs which we would never have gotten but for our service. They see us pandering to the press. They see us avoiding tough decisions. They see us caving to the special interests.

“And, members, THAT is the truth. The enemy is not the special interests; the enemy is not the press; the enemy is not any of that stuff. The enemy has always been and will always be… us!

Bingo!

Corcoran went on to urge his House colleagues “to shun self-interest” and “lead with principles.” A few live that way. And to be sure, if more lawmakers had the courage and integrity to do that, there would be no need for Corcoran’s suggested reforms.